Winstar Communications, Inc. (at some point WinStar Communications) was an American

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company that provided

broadband In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide-bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Inter ...

services to business customers. Winstar owned and operated a broadband network in 60 major markets in the United States, including each of the top 30 U.S. markets and ten markets internationally in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Winstar was a notable example of the internet and telecom bubbles of the late 1990s. At its peak in 2000, less than a year before its collapse, the company had a

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

in excess of $4.4 billion and revenues of $445.6 million for the year ended December 31, 1999. Winstar also bought Fox Lorber Home Video from

New Video New Video ( stylized as NEWVIDEO) is an American independent entertainment distributor and collector of independent digital content. The company works with independent producers, filmmakers and television networks to curate content for many ty ...

in 1995. In 2001, Genius Products bought out Fox Lorber after Winstar was shuttered.

History

The company was founded by William J. Rouhana in 1993 as a reseller of long-distance service. After winning auctions for radio spectrum, the firm became a

Competitive Local Exchange Carrier A competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) is a North American telecommunications provider classification that emerged based on the competition model of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the United States. The act required the previously esta ...

and began selling wireless broadband service. In 1994, Winstar completed an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, listing its stock on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

under the symbol "WCII". In the mid-1990s, Winstar acquired Fox Lorber Home Video. Winstar stock soared by over 600% between 1996 and 2000 as revenue grew from $2.7 million in 1995 to over $445 million in 1999. The company also received positive research reports from analysts, such as

Jack Grubman Jack Benjamin Grubman is an American former managing director of Salomon Smith Barney and the lead research analyst for the telecommunications sector. Personal life He was born in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Isador and Mildred Grubman ...

, contributing to the Global settlement.

Bankruptcy

Despite its growth, Winstar was unable to generate enough sales to cover debts from massive

capital expenditures Capital expenditure or capital expense (abbreviated capex, CAPEX, or CapEx) is the money an organization or corporate entity spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land. It is considered ...

required to build out its infrastructure. Among its creditors were a number of banks and high yield bond investors as well as other large telecommunications players, including

Lucent Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies busines ...

that had offered the company significant vendor financing. Winstar filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

in April 2001. The company previously laid of nearly half its work force the same month. The Chapter 11 (reorganization) cases were converted into Chapter 7 (liquidation) cases on January 24, 2002.Winstar Communications: Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Motion
December 4, 2007 Private investment company Oak Point Partners acquired the remnant assets, consisting of any known and unknown assets that weren't previously administered, from the Winstar Communications, Inc., et al., Bankruptcy Estates on January 19, 2011.Order Approving the Sale of Certain Assets of the Debtors’ Estates to Oak Point Partners
''Bankrupt Company News'', February 18, 2011

References

{{Authority control Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1993 American companies established in 1993 Technology companies disestablished in 2001